With the increasing number of audio/video data sources broadcast to homes, there is a need to synchronize different devices that may be potentially used (directly or indirectly) to deliver content to a user. Each device may have an own source of content, as well as metadata describing the content.
Traditionally the way to aggregate the metadata and content is to interconnect them through specific local protocols (API). However in an increasingly complex environment such a device-to-device synchronization it may become difficult and/or unreliable, so as to require a complicated setup which needs some specific technical skills.
The various devices may also require the usage of several remote controls that makes the user experience very complex and hard to understand.
In the classical digital TV environment, the information relative to a broadcast signal is transmitted using the extra data capacity in the broadcast signal. This technique is frequently using digital TV broadcasting standards.
In a connected digital TV environment, part or all information related to a broadcast signal may be transmitted using non broadcast transmission techniques such as Internet.
In a hybrid solution, whereas the classical digital television environment is complemented by a connected digital television set, in two distinct boxes or within the same solution, there is a further need to organize data from both channels i.e. broadcast and Internet channel in order for the end-user to have a comprehensive presentation of the information, such as the various channel and events available for purchasing. The hybrid solution can also be used to complement missing information from broadcast channel by extracting data or contextual information and then synchronizing them with information coming from the Internet channel or vice versa.
This synchronization can be done manually, for example, with the interaction of the end user watching content from the classical television set, and doing a search on the connected interface (internet for example) in order to complement the available information.